Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system platform supporting an infrared receiver/transmitter and an operation method thereof, and more particularly, to a system platform applied to a computer, a tablet computer, a smart phone or the like to support application and operation of an infrared receiver/transmitter.
Related Art
Infrared data transmission is safe, low-cost and convenient, and has a wide range in application. Data transmitted by using infrared may be translated from a digital form into an electronic signal and then transmitted in a single direction. An infrared receiving device, after receiving the electronic signal, converts the electronic signal to the original data form. Transmission of a consumer infrared (CIR) may provide a service in a far range, the range of transmission varies according to different infrared transmission apparatuses, and a transmission distance thereof may reach several meters. The CIR may be used to control consumer devices such as a remote controller of a television set and a garage door switch.
When the CIR is applied to a system platform such as a computer, a tablet computer or a smart phone, a conventional interface between a CIR receiver/transmitter and the system platform is an embedded controller (EC), a super IO (SIO) or a universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter (UART). During a booting stage, a basic input output system (BIOS) initials/sets up a CIR_RX#/CIR_TX# port, but the BIOS does not execute a decoding/coding program for a received/transmitted infrared electronic signal.
For the application of the CIR in a system platform such as a computer, a tablet computer or a smart phone, hardware configuration mechanisms such as the EC/SIO are not based on industrial standards, manufacturers of different system platforms have different configuration mechanisms, and configuring an EC/SIO in a system platform may increase hardware cost. For a tablet computer or a smart phone, hardware such as the EC or keyboard controller (KBC) is not configured or present, and therefore, the CIR is quite difficult to be applied to the tablet computer or the smart phone.